In the semiconductor device industry, particularly in the fabrication of transistors, there is continuous pressure to reduce the size of devices such as transistors. The ultimate goal is to fabricate increasingly smaller and more reliable integrated circuits (ICs) for use in products such as processor chips, mobile telephones, or memory devices such as DRAMs. The smaller devices are frequently powered by batteries, where there is also pressure to reduce the size of the batteries, and to extend the time between battery charges. This forces the industry to not only design smaller transistors, but to design them to operate reliably with lower power supplies.
A common configuration of a transistor is shown in FIG. 1. While the following discussion uses FIG. 1 to illustrate a transistor from the prior art, one skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention could be incorporated into the transistor shown in FIG. 1 to form a novel transistor according to the invention. The transistor 100 is fabricated in a substrate 110 that is typically silicon, but could be fabricated from other semiconductor materials as well. The transistor 100 has a first source/drain region 120 and a second source/drain region 130. A body region 132 is located between the first source/drain region and the second source/drain region, the body region 132 defining a channel of the transistor with a channel length 134. A gate dielectric, or gate oxide 140 is located on the body region 132 with a gate 150 located over the gate oxide. Although the gate dielectric can be formed from materials other than oxides, the gate dielectric is typically an oxide, and is commonly referred to as a gate oxide. The gate may be fabricated from polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) or other conducting materials such as metal may be used.
In fabricating transistors to be smaller in size and reliably operating on lower power supplies, one important design criteria is the gate oxide 140. A gate oxide 140, when operating in a transistor, has both a physical gate oxide thickness and an equivalent oxide thickness (EOT). The equivalent oxide thickness quantifies the electrical properties, such as capacitance, of a gate oxide 140 in terms of a representative physical thickness. EOT is defined as the thickness of a theoretical SiO2 layer that describes the actual electrical operating characteristics of the gate oxide 140 in the transistor 100. For example, in traditional SiO2 gate oxides, a physical oxide thickness may be 5.0 nm, but due to undesirable electrical effects such as gate depletion, the EOT may be 6.0 nm. A gate oxide other than SiO2 may also be described electrically in terms of an EOT. In this case, the theoretical oxide referred to in the EOT number is an equivalent SiO2 oxide layer. For example, SiO2 has a dielectric constant of approximately 4. An alternate oxide with a dielectric constant of 20 and a physical thickness of 100 nm would have an EOT of approximately 20 nm (100*(4/20)), which represents a theoretical SiO2 gate oxide.
Lower transistor operating voltages and smaller transistors require thinner equivalent oxide thicknesses (EOTs). A problem with the increasing pressure of smaller transistors and lower operating voltages is that gate oxides fabricated from SiO2 are at their limit with regards to physical thickness and EOT. Attempts to fabricate SiO2 gate oxides thinner than today's physical thicknesses show that these gate oxides no longer have acceptable electrical properties. As a result, the EOT of a SiO2 gate oxide 140 can no longer be reduced by merely reducing the physical gate oxide thickness.
Attempts to solve this problem have led to interest in gate oxides made from oxide materials other than SiO2. Certain alternate oxides have a higher dielectric constant (k), which allows the physical thickness of a gate oxide 140 to be the same as existing SiO2 limits or thicker, but provides an EOT that is thinner than current SiO2 limits.
A problem that arises in forming an alternate oxide layer on the body region of a transistor is the process in which the alternate oxide is formed on the body region. Recent studies show that the surface roughness of the body region has a large effect on the electrical properties of the gate oxide, and the resulting operating characteristics of the transistor. The leakage current through a physical 1.0 nm gate oxide increases by a factor of 10 for every 0.1 increase in the root-mean-square (RMS) roughness. In forming an alternate oxide layer on the body region of a transistor, a thin layer of the alternate material to be oxidized (typically a metal) must first be deposited on the body region. Current processes for depositing a metal or other alternate layer on the body region of a transistor are unacceptable due to their effect on the surface roughness of the body region.
FIG. 2a shows a surface 210 of a body region 200 of a transistor. The surface 210 in the Figure has a high degree of smoothness, with a surface variation 220. FIG. 2b shows the body region 200 during a conventional sputtering deposition process stage.
During sputtering, particles 230 of the material to be deposited bombard the surface 210 at a high energy. When a particle 230 hits the surface 210, some particles adhere as shown by particle 235, and other particles cause damage as shown by pit 240. High energy impacts can throw off body region particles 215 to create the pits 240. A resulting layer 250 as deposited by sputtering is shown in FIG. 2c. The deposited layer/body region interface 255 is shown following a rough contour created by the sputtering damage. The surface of the deposited layer 260 also shows a rough contour due to the rough interface 255.
In a typical process of forming an alternate material gate oxide, the deposited layer 250 is oxidized to convert the layer 250 to an oxide material. Existing oxidation processes do not, however, repair the surface damage created by existing deposition methods such as sputtering. As described above, surface roughness has a large influence on the electrical properties of the gate oxide and the resulting transistor.
What is needed is an alternate material gate oxide that is more reliable at existing EOTs than current gate oxides. What is also needed is an alternate material gate oxide with an EOT thinner than conventional SiO2. What is also needed is an alternative material gate oxide with a smooth interface between the gate oxide and the body region. Because existing methods of deposition are not capable of providing a smooth interface with an alternate material gate oxide, what is further needed is a method of forming an alternate material gate oxide that maintains a smooth interface.
Additionally, at higher process temperatures, any of several materials used to fabricate the transistor, such as silicon, can react with other materials such as metals or oxygen to form unwanted silicides or oxides. What is needed is a lower temperature process of forming gate oxides that prevents the formation of unwanted byproduct materials.